Intervention server and intervention program

ABSTRACT

An intervention server according to an aspect of the present invention includes a receiver, a filter, and an intervener. The receiver receives pieces of first user input information from a plurality of audience terminals to which a live play video of a game is distributed. The filter filters the pieces of the first user input information. The intervener intervenes in a progress of the game based on the filtered pieces of the first user input information.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/652,375 filed on Mar. 30, 2020, which is a 371 National Stageapplication of International Application No. PCT/JP2018/043838 filed onNov. 28, 2018, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No.2017-230617 filed on Nov. 30, 2017 and issued as Japanese Patent No.6,615,168 on Nov. 15, 2019. The aforementioned applications and patentare incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety, for anypurposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to live distribution of game play videos.

BACKGROUND ART

Video games are roughly classified into a stand-alone type and an onlinetype (e.g., a cloud type or a massively multiplayer online (MMO) type).A stand-alone game is implemented by executing a program with aterminal, that is, played by one or a few players at most. On the otherhand, an online game is implemented by executing a program withterminals and a game server connected to the terminals. An MMO game isplayed by hundreds to thousands of players connected to a network at thesame time. As basic play of such a game, the players operate the gameand enjoy the feedback, for example, changes in the game screens orsound, or vibrations.

In recent years, videos in a genre called live streaming of gameplaythroughs have emerged in the field of video sharing systems. Thelive streaming of a game playthrough is a content sharing method thatbroadcasts live, to a big audience, a game being played by a player(i.e., a distributor) with commentary.

Some video sharing systems allow the audience to post comments on livebroadcast videos. The comments posted by an audience member can beviewed not only by the other audience members but also by thedistributor. The distributor then plays the game in accordance with theadvices or request of the audience. In response, the audience postsfurther comments. Such systems provide interactive game experiences.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2016-189804 disclosesobtaining and counting comments input during watching of a game playvideo, and selecting a presentation method [0011]. According to JapaneseUnexamined Patent Application No. 2016-189804, however, the presentationmethods with different effects, background materials, and screendecorations are defined, each of which method fails to change the gameplay itself and merely changes the appearance (see, e.g., paragraph[0085] and FIG. 18).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Only with a mechanism that allows audience to post comments on alivestreaming video and a distributor to view the comments, the audience hasa limited influence on the progress of a game. For example, even a largenumber of comments posted by the audience have no influence on theprogress of the game, if the distributor overlooks or ignores thecomments. In this manner, in known live streaming of game playthroughs,only the distributor is directly engaged in the progress of the game,and thus the will of the audience has no influence on the progress ofthe game regardless of the will of the distributor.

On the other hand, assume that live streaming of game playthroughsallows the audience to directly intervene in the progress of the gameand there is a large number of, for example, tens of thousands orhundreds of thousands of audience. The reflection of the will of all theaudience on the progress of the game control causes a large amount ofaccess to the server and thus a high load on the server. If there is adifference in the will of the audience to be reflected, for example, ifthere are a group wishing to move a character to the right and the othergroup to the left, it is impossible to reflect the will of the bothgroups at the same time.

It is an object of the present invention to allow audience to intervenein the progress of a game, while reducing an increase in the processingload on a server.

An intervention server according to an aspect of the present inventionincludes a receiver, a filter, and an intervener. The receiver receivespieces of first user input information from a plurality of audienceterminals to which a live play video of a game is distributed. Thefilter filters the pieces of the first user input information. Theintervener intervenes in a progress of the game based on the filteredpieces of the first user input information.

The present invention allows audience to intervene in the progress of agame, while reducing an increase in the processing load on a server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example live video distributionsystem including an intervention server according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another example live videodistribution system including the intervention server according to theembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the intervention server accordingto the embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows an example video distributed live in the system shown inFIG. 1 or 2 .

FIG. 5 shows another example video distributed live in the system shownin FIG. 1 or 2 .

FIG. 6 shows yet another example video distributed live in the systemshown in FIG. 1 or 2 .

FIG. 7 shows still another example video distributed live in the systemshown in FIG. 1 or 2 .

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the interventionserver shown in FIG. 3 .

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT

Now, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. Thesame or similar reference characters are hereinafter used to representthe same or similar elements to those already described, and thedetailed explanation thereof will be basically omitted. For example, ifthere are the same or similar elements, a common reference character maybe used to explain the elements without distinction, or suffix numbersmay be used in addition to the common reference character to explain theelements with distinction.

EMBODIMENT

An intervention server according to an embodiment may be incorporated ina live video distribution system illustrated in FIG. 1 . This livedistribution system includes: a distributor terminal 100; a videodistribution server 200; audience terminals 300-1, 300-2, . . . ; and anintervention server 400.

In the example of FIG. 1 , the video distribution server 200 distributeslive stand-alone game play videos executed by the distributor terminal100 to the distributor terminal 100 and the audience terminals 300. Theintervention server 400 intervenes in the progress of games executed bythe distributor terminal 100 based on user input information from theaudience terminals 300.

The video distribution server 200 is connected to the distributorterminal 100 and the audience terminals 300 via a network and allowsdata transmission. Similarly, the intervention server 400 is connectedto the distributor terminal 100 and the audience terminals 300 via thenetwork. The intervention server 400 receives the user input informationfrom at least the audience terminals 300 and transmits, to thedistributor terminal 100, control data for the intervention in theprogress of games.

The numbers of terminals or devices shown in FIG. 1 are illustrativeonly. For example, the number of the audience terminals 300 changes frommoment to moment and thus may be zero, hundreds, or thousands. Inaddition, a web server or a comment distribution server (not shown inFIG. 1 ) may be further placed, or such a function may be integratedinto the video distribution server 200.

The distributor terminal 100 may be, for example, an electronic devicesuch as a computer capable of executing stand-alone game programs.Examples of the electronic device include a television receiver(including an internet television), a personal computer (PC), a mobileterminal (e.g., a tablet, a smartphone, a laptop, a feature phone, aportable game player, a digital music player, and an electronic bookreader), a virtual reality (VR) terminal, and an augmented-reality (AR)terminal. The distributor terminal 100 is not limited thereto. Thedistributor terminal 100 adds, for example, the narration of thedistributor to a game play video, encodes video data, and sequentiallytransmits the encoded video data to the video distribution server 200.

The distributor terminal 100 may be physically divided into a devicethat executes game programs and a device that encodes play videos andtransmits the encoded video data. In this case, the play video may ormay not be directly output by the device that executes the gameprograms. In the latter case, for example, the screen ofa display deviceconnected to the device that executes the game programs is captured togenerate the play videos.

The video distribution server 200 receives the encoded video datasequentially transmitted from the distributor terminal 100. The videodistribution server 200 then distributes this video data to thedistributor terminal 100 and the audience terminals 300. The audienceterminals 300 may be electronic devices similar to the distributorterminal 100. However, the audience terminals 300 may not necessarily becapable of executing game programs.

The intervention server 400 receives the user input information from theaudience terminals 300, filters the information to reduce the load, andintervenes in the progress of games executed by the distributor terminal100 based on the filtered user input information. For example, theintervention server 400 may generate the control data for controllingthe progress of games and transmit the control data to the distributorterminal 100.

Such control data may be, for example, the same as, or similar to,operation data based on the user input at the distributor terminal 100or may be special codes different from normal operation data, such ascodes for operating parameters in games or codes for operating eventflags. In any case, the programs executed by the distributor terminal100 operate based on this control data.

This operation of the intervention server 400 allows, for example, atleast part of the will of the audience viewing a live play video of astand-alone game affects the progress of the game and eventually theplay video watched by the audience itself, which provides aninteractive, highly cohesive game experience. In addition, theintervention server 400 samples the will of the audience by filtering,thereby allowing intervention that roughly reflects the will of theaudience, while reducing an increase in the processing load.

The videos distributed live by the video distribution server 200 may berelated not only to stand-alone games but also to online games or togames of the both types. For example, the videos may be related to agame in which a player (e.g., a distributor) operates an artificial lifeform developed by the player in a virtual world where artificial lifeforms developed by other players coexist. In this exemplary game, theartificial life forms may be developed using machine learning. Themachine learning for developing the artificial life forms may beperformed by the game server or by the distributor terminal 100 as astand-alone game because simultaneous execution of the machine learningfor a large number of artificial life forms requires a high calculationload.

Alternatively, the videos distributed live by the video distributionserver 200 may be related to games other than video games, for example,electronically controllable arcade games, roulette games, or boardgames.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example live video distribution system. Inthe example of FIG. 2 , the video distribution server 200 distributeslive, to the distributor terminal 100 and the audience terminals 300,online game play videos executed by the distributor terminal 100 and agame server 500. In this example, the intervention server 400 intervenesin the progress of games executed by the game server 500, not by thedistributor terminal 100, based on the user input information from theaudience terminals 300.

The video distribution server 200 is connected to the distributorterminal 100 and the audience terminals 300 via a network and allowsdata transmission. Similarly, the intervention server 400 is connectedto the audience terminals 300 and the game server 500 via the network.The intervention server 400 may receive the user input information fromat least the audience terminals 300 and transmit, to the game server500, the control data for the intervention in the progress of games. Thegame server 500 is connected to the distributor terminal 100 via thenetwork and allows data transmission.

The numbers of terminals or devices shown in FIG. 2 are illustrativeonly. For example, the number of the audience terminals 300 changes frommoment to moment and thus may be zero, hundreds, or thousands. Inaddition, a web server or a comment distribution server (not shown inFIG. 2 ) may be placed, or such a function may be integrated into thevideo distribution server 200.

The distributor terminal 100 shown in FIG. 2 is basically the same as,or similar to, the distributor terminal 100 shown in FIG. 1 . However,the distributor terminal 100 in FIG. 2 may execute at least online gameprograms (client programs). During the execution of the game program,the distributor terminal 100 transmits, to the game server 500,operation data based on the user input, receives and displays thefeedback, such as a game play video, from the game server 500. Thedistributor terminal 100 adds, for example, the narration of thedistributor to the game play video received from the game server 500,encodes video data, and sequentially transmits the encoded video data tothe video distribution server 200.

The video distribution server 200 and the audience terminals 300 shownin FIG. 2 are basically the same as, or similar to, the videodistribution server 200 and the audience terminals 300 shown in FIG. 1 .

The intervention server 400 receives the user input information from theaudience terminals 300, filters the information to reduce the load, andintervenes in the progress of games executed by the game server 500based on the filtered user input information. For example, theintervention server 400 may generate the control data for controllingthe progress of games and transmit the control data to the game server500.

Such control data may be, for example, the same as, or similar to, theoperation data based on the user input at the distributor terminal 100or may be special codes different from normal operation data, such ascodes for operating parameters in games or codes for operating eventflags. In any case, the programs executed by the game server 500 operatebased on this control data.

The game server 500 is a computer capable of executing online gameprograms (server programs). During the execution of a game program, thegame server 500 receives, from the distributor terminal 100, theoperation data based on the user input, generates the feedback such as agame play video, and transmits the feedback to the distributor terminal100.

This operation of the intervention server 400 allows, for example, atleast part of the will of the audience viewing a live play video of anonline game affects the progress of the game and eventually the playvideo itself viewed by the audience, which provides an interactive,highly cohesive game experience. In addition, the intervention server400 samples the will of the audience by filtering, thereby allowingintervention that roughly reflects the will of the audience, whilereducing an increase in the processing load.

Even in a game other than video games, the intervention server 400transmits the control data to the distributor terminal 100, the gameserver 500, or any other device controlling the progress of the game toachieve the intervention based on the will of the audience.

Now, the intervention server 400 will be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 3 to 7 . For simplicity, it is assumed that theintervention server 400 is applied to the live distribution system shownin FIG. 1 . The following description may be read as appropriate so thatthe intervention server 400 is applicable to the live distributionsystem shown in FIG. 2 or any other live distribution systems.

The intervention server 400 is a computer including a processor and amemory. The processor performs filtering of the user input informationreceived from the audience terminals 300, intervention processing in theprogress of games, user authentication processing, and control of thenotification to the audience terminals 300. The memory temporarilystores programs executed by the processor to implement such processingand the data to be used by the processor. The intervention server 400may be a combination of a plurality of computers. For example, aplurality of functional units of the intervention server 400, forexample, a receiver 401, a filter 402, and an intervener 403, which willbe described later, may be distributed into and mounted on differentcomputers.

The intervention server 400 may use a communication device to beconnected to the network. The communication device may be built in theintervention server 400 or externally attached to the interventionserver 400.

The communication device communicates with the distributor terminal 100and the audience terminals 300 via the network. For example, thecommunication device receives the user input information from theaudience terminals 300 and transmits, to the distributor terminal 100,the control data for intervention in the progress of games.

Now, the description of the example configuration of the interventionserver 400 will be continued with reference to FIG. 3 . The interventionserver 400 shown in FIG. 3 includes the receiver 401, the filter 402,the intervener 403, a notifier 404, and an authenticator 405.

The receiver 401 receives, via the network, the user input informationfrom the audience terminals 300 to which a live play video of a game isdistributed by the video distribution server 200, and transmits the userinput information to the filter 402. The user input information may be,for example, information such as answer data to questionnaires notifiedto the audience terminals 300 by the notifier 404, which will bedescribed later, or comments posted by the audience terminals 300. Thecomments may be received via a comment distribution server (not shown).The information is however not limited thereto. The receiver 401 mayreceive the user input information only during an acceptableintervention period, which will be described later. Such limitation onthe period for receiving the user input information reduces theprocessing load on the intervention server 400. The receiver 401 may bethe communication device described above or an interface with thecommunication device.

The receiver 401 may receive, for example, information on a starttrigger of the acceptable intervention period, which will be describedlater, from the distributor terminal 100 via the network and transmitthe information to the notifier 404. In addition, the receiver 401 mayreceive data on the user authentication, such as input passwords orbiological information, from the audience terminals 300 via the networkand transmit the data to the authenticator 405.

The filter 402 receives, from the receiver 401, the user inputinformation to the audience terminals 300 and filters the information.The filter 402 may be the processor and the memory described above.

Specifically, the filter 402 may perform filtering to thin the receiveduser input information. The filter 402 may thin the user inputinformation based on various types of algorithms.

For example, the filter 402 may automatically discard or not receive apredetermined percentage of the received user input information toreduce the amount ofuser input information to be taken intoconsideration by the intervener 403. The predetermined percentage may befixed or variable. For example, the predetermined percentage mayincrease with an increase in the number of audience. With an increase inthe number of audience, the amount of user input information expected tobe received increases. The statistical properties of the population arethus not greatly impaired even if most of the user input information isremoved at random.

For example, once the total amount of the received user inputinformation reaches a predetermined upper limit, the filter 402 mayautomatically discard the user input information received afterward ormay not receive further user input information afterward. In thisexample, if for example the notifier 404 notifies the audience terminals300 that intervention is possible, the notifier 404 may immediately stopthe notification after the total amount of the received user inputinformation reaches the predetermined upper limit, so that theintervener 403 may intervene and allow a game to proceed smoothly.Alternatively, the notifier 404 may intentionally continue thenotification to allow the audience members who have responded late tofeel that they have also intervened in the progress of the game.

Such filtering by the filter 402 reduces the load of the integrationprocessing of the user input information on the intervention server 400,while maintaining the basic framework that a result of integration ofthe will of the audience is reflected in the progress of a game.

Alternatively, the filter 402 may perform filtering based on a result ofthe user authentication notified by the authenticator 405. For example,the filter 402 may vary the probability that the user input informationfrom each audience terminal 300 used by the audience member is thinned,in accordance with the attribute of the audience member. The attributesof the audience members may include the browsing histories, the numberof comments posted, the member categories (e.g., the free or paidmembers of the viewing service of live streaming of game playthroughs),the presence or absence of charges, the amount of charges, etc., of theaudience members. For example, the filter 402 may thin the user inputinformation by the authenticated audience members (i.e., the user inputinformation from the audience terminals 300 which have passed the userauthentication) at a lower percentage than the user input information bythe unauthenticated audience members (i.e., the user input informationfrom the audience terminals 300 that have not passed the userauthentication). Such filtering gives, to the audience, an incentive toproactive authentication. In addition, the will of the authenticatedaudience members is more likely to influence the progress of a game,which is expected to increase the satisfaction of the audience.

Instead of or in addition to filtering performed by filter 402, de factofiltering may be performed prior to the receipt of the user inputinformation. Specifically, before the notifier 404 notifies thatintervention is possible, a drawer (not shown) may draw ones of theaudience terminals 300. Based on the result of the drawing, whether thewill of the audience is taken into consideration or not is determined.For example, the notifier 404 may notify the winning audience terminals300 that intervention is possible and may not notify the losing audienceterminals 300 that intervention is possible. Alternatively, the notifier404 may transmit, to each winning audience terminal 300, for example,control data for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) componentthat allows answering a questionnaire (i.e., information indicating thatthe GUI is selected is transmitted to the intervention server 400)together with the notification that intervention is possible. To eachlosing audience terminal 300, the notifier 404 may transmit control datafor displaying a dummy GUI component, appearance of which is similar tothe GUI component but which does not allow answering any questionnaire(i.e., information indicating that the GUI is selected is nottransmitted to the intervention server 400) together with thenotification. Such display of the dummy GUI components to the losingaudience terminals 300 allows the audience to feel that they havefrequent opportunities to intervene in the progress of a game.

The intervener 403 receives the filtered user input information from thefilter 402 and intervenes in the progress of a game based on the userinput information. Specifically, the intervener 403 integrates thefiltered user input information, generates control data for interventionin the progress of the game based on the integrated user inputinformation, and transmits the control data to the distributor terminal100 via the network. The intervener 403 may be a combination of theprocessor and memory, described above, and the communication device oran interface with the communication device.

Specifically, the intervener 403 may perform intervention of (1)controlling the conversations or actions of a player character or othercharacters in a game, (2) causing additional objects, such as items,traps, or gimmicks, or additional effects, such as buffs or nerfs of theplayer character or other characters, to occur in the game, or (3)causing the existing objects or effects in the game to change ordisappear.

For example, when a player character 10 is at a crossroads asillustrated in FIG. 4 , the intervener 403 allows the player character10 to go to the right or left road based on the will of the audience. Inthe scene of choosing the course of action of the player character 10 asillustrated in FIG. 5 , the intervener 403 may determine the course ofaction of the player character 10 based on the will of the audience. Inthe scene where the player character 10 is asked which weapon to choose,as illustrated in FIG. 6 , the intervener 403 may determine the answerof the player character based on the will of the audience. In the scenewhere the player character 10 moves forward as illustrated in FIG. 7while defeating an enemy character 20, the intervener 403 may causeitems or effects for recovery of the vitality of the player character 10to appear, provide a bridge so that the player character 10 will notfall down, cause effects such as buffs or nerfs of the enemy character20 to appear, or cause an additional enemy character to appear, based onthe will of the audience.

The intervener 403 may integrate the user input information by amajority vote, for example. That is, the intervener 403 may count thefiltered user input information on a type-by-type basis and generatecontrol data based on the majority user input information. For example,as shown in FIG. 4 , when the player character 10 is at the crossroads,the intervener 403 counts the amount of the user input informationchoosing the left road and the amount of the user input informationchoosing the right road. As a result of the counting, if the formergains 1,000 votes and the latter gains 500 votes, the intervener 403 maygenerate control data that allows the player character 10 to choose theleft road and transmit the control data to the distributor terminal 100.In the case in which the user input information is the information onthe comments posted by the audience, the intervener 403 may performnatural language processing, such as keyword extraction or intentionunderstanding, and count the keywords included in the comments or theintentions of the comments.

The intervener 403 may not simply take a majority vote but may assignweights on the user input information based on the result of userauthentication notified by the authenticator 405. For example, theintervener 403 may apply, in accordance with the attributes of audience,different weights (different right to speak) on the votes of the userinput information from the audience terminals 300 used by the audience.For example, the intervener 403 may count the user input information byan authenticated audience member having a certain attribute as threevotes, the user input information by an authenticated audience memberhaving another attribute as two votes, and the user input information byan unauthenticated audience member as one vote.

Alternatively, the intervener 403 may integrate the user inputinformation using an algorithm other than a majority vote. For example,the intervener 403 may treat, as a result of integration of the userinput information, the user input information received earliest, theuser input information received latest, the user input informationreceived at a time closest to a predetermined time (e.g., after apredetermined time from the start of the acceptable interventionperiod), the user input information received at a predetermined ordinalnumber, or the user input information gaining a predetermined number ofvotes earliest. Alternatively, the intervener 403 may treat, as a resultof integration of the user input information, the one selected in thevote from the received user input information. In these cases as well,the intervener 403 may take the attributes of the audience members intoconsideration. For example, the intervener 403 may advance or delay thereceipt times of the user input information in accordance with theattributes of the audience members who gave the information, or mayincrease or decrease the winning probability in the drawing inaccordance with the attributes of the audience members.

The intervener 403 may further take the user input information from thedistributor terminal 100 into consideration. For example, the intervener403 may notify the distributor terminal 100 of the result of integrationof the user input information from the audience terminals 300 and maytransmit control data based on the result of integration to thedistributor terminal 100 if there is user input information indicatingacceptance of the result of integration. For example, the intervener 403may request acceptance of the distributor if the percentage or number ofvotes of certain user input information is low or small as a result ofintegration. Alternatively, the intervener 403 may integrate the userinput information from the distributor terminal 100 as well, similarlyto the user input information from the audience terminals 300. Forexample, the intervener 403 may count the user input information fromthe distributor terminal 100 as 100 votes or any other number of votesand may integrate the user input information based on a majority vote.

An example has been described above in which the intervener 403integrates the user input information. Instead, an integrator (notshown) independent of the intervener 403 may perform the integration.

The notifier 404 receives, from the receiver 401, information on thestart trigger of the acceptable intervention period in which theintervention of the audience in the progress of a game is acceptable,and detects the start of the acceptable intervention period based onthis information. Before the end of the acceptable intervention period,the notifier 404 notifies the audience terminals 300 that interventionin the progress of the game is possible. The notifier 404 may be acombination of the processor and memory, described above, and thecommunication device or an interface with the communication device.

The acceptable intervention period may be designed to start, forexample, based on the will of the distributor or the audience, dependingon the progress of the game, or regardless of these factors.

For example, the notifier 404 may detect the start of the acceptableintervention period when predetermined user input information given tothe distributor terminal 100 (or the audience terminals 300) isreceived. Such user input information is defined as the start trigger ofthe acceptable intervention period, and may be, for example, pressing apredetermined GUI button displayed on the screen of the distributorterminal 100 (or each audience terminal 300).

For example, each game program may be designed so that the distributorterminal 100 sequentially reports the information on the progress of thegame, such as event flags or parameters in the game, to the interventionserver 400. When the progress reaches the state defined as the starttrigger of the acceptable intervention period (e.g., at an occurrence ofa predetermined event, at a reach of a predetermined point, or at abreak in the operation by the distributor for a predetermined timeperiod), the notifier 404 may detect the start of the acceptableintervention period. Alternatively, the progress of the game may beestimated from the video or audio feature of the play video withoutdirect monitoring of the information on the progress of the game. Thestate of the game may be estimated using a trained model created bymachine learning, for example. For example, the notifier 404 may detectthe start trigger of the acceptable intervention period from the fact,for example, that the vitality of the player character suddenlydecreases in view of a change in the health bar in a play video, and thefact that a certain event such as a boss fight has started in view of achange in the background music (BGM).

For example, the acceptable intervention period may be repeated in aregular or irregular cycle or may start at random timing regardless ofthe will of the distributor, the will of the audience, or the progressof the game.

The acceptable intervention period may continue for a predetermined timeperiod from the start trigger, for example. Alternatively, theacceptable intervention period may continue from the start trigger untila predetermined number of comments are posted, until there is a userinput by the distributor to abort the acceptable intervention period, oruntil there are a predetermined number of user inputs relating to theintervention by the audience.

An example has been described above in which the notifier 404 determineswhether it is the acceptable intervention period or not. Instead, adeterminer (not shown) independent of the notifier 404 may perform thedetermination.

The notifier 404 may transmit, to each audience terminal 300, aquestionnaire including a plurality of options for choosing desiredintervention in the progress of a game, for example. The questionnaireis displayed, for example, on each audience terminal 300 with the answerbuttons associated with the options arranged, and the audience presses,as the user input, the answer buttons associated with the desiredoptions using the input devices at the audience terminals 300 totransmit such user input information to the intervention server 400.

Alternatively, the notifier 404 may transmit, to each audience terminal300, a notification to request the audience to post comments indicatingdesired intervention in the progress of a game, for example. Suchnotification may be displayed as a text such as “[Now acceptingcomments] Which way to go?” on each audience terminal 300. The audienceposts, as the user inputs, comments indicating desired interventionusing the input devices at the audience terminals 300 to transmit suchuser input information to the intervention server 400 (via a commentdistribution server).

Before the end of the acceptable intervention period, the notifier 404may transmit, to the audience terminals 300, a notification (e.g., apush notification) that prompts the audience to do user authentication,such as a notification indicating that user authentication is requiredto intervene in the progress of a game, prior to the notificationdescribed above. This motivates the audience members who have notregistered as users into user registration and thus increases the numberof additional users. The unauthenticated users are motivated into loginand thus facilitates grasp of the viewing behaviors of the users. Thenotifier 404 may transmit the notification described above (i.e., notifythat intervention in the progress of a game is possible) only to theaudience terminals 300 that have passed the user authentication. Thisreduces the various processing loads with respect to the notification tounauthenticated audience members or the user input information from theunauthenticated audience members.

If a means other than a notification by the notifier 404 allows theaudience to know the start of the acceptable intervention period, thenotifier 404 may be omitted. For example, the distributor may start theacceptable intervention period using the own user input as a triggerand, before or after the start, add narration such as “Which way shouldI go?”, “What should I do?”, “Which should I choose?” or “Help!” to aplay video to request the audience to intervene in the progress of agame. By hearing or seeing this, the audience implicitly knows the startof the acceptable intervention period. During the acceptableintervention period, a simple change in the play video, such as a darkerplay video than usual, stop of the time, and change in the BGM, mayallow the audience to know the start of the acceptable interventionperiod.

The authenticator 405 receives data on the user authentication from thereceiver 401 and performs user authentication for the audience terminals300 based on the received data. The authenticator 405 may achieve theuser authentication utilizing, for example, a known authenticationtechnique such as password authentication or biometric authentication.The authenticator 405 transmits the result of user authentication to thefilter 402, the intervener 403, and the notifier 404.

Next, an example operation of the intervention server 400 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 8 . After live distribution of a playvideo, the intervention server 400 does not basically operate until thestart of the acceptable intervention period (step S601). After the startof the acceptable intervention period, that is, detection of the starttrigger of the acceptable intervention period, the process proceeds tostep S602.

In step S602, the authenticator 405 performs user authentication for theaudience terminals 300. The user authentication may be performed notonly after the start of the acceptable intervention period but also atanytime before the start of the acceptable intervention period. Then,the notifier 404 notifies, for example, the audience terminals 300 thathave passed the user authentication in step S602 that intervention inthe progress of the game is possible (step S603). After step S603, theprocess proceeds to step S604.

In step S604, the receiver 401 receives the user input information from(some) audience terminals 300 that have received the notification instep S603. The filter 402 then filters the user input informationreceived in step S604 (step S605). The processing in steps S604 and S605is repeated until the end of the acceptable intervention period (stepS606). The processing in step S605 may be performed all at once afterthe end of the acceptable intervention period, for example, before thestep S606 which will be described later. After the end of the acceptableintervention period, the process proceeds to step S607.

In step S607, the intervener 403 integrates the user input informationreceived in step S604 and filtered in step S605. The user inputinformation may be integrated using various types of algorithms such asthe majority vote described above.

The intervener 403 then generates control data for intervention in theprogress of the game based on the user input information integrated instep S607 and transmits the control data to the distributor terminal 100(step S608). After the end of step S608, the intervention server 400waits for the start of the next acceptable intervention period (stepS601).

As described above, the intervention server according to the embodimentreceives the user input information from the audience terminals to whicha live play video of a game is distributed, filters (thins) theinformation, and intervenes in the progress of the game based on thefiltered user input information. This intervention server thereforeallows the audience to intervene in the progress of the game, whilereducing an increase in the processing load on the intervention server.That is, for example, at least part of the will of the audience affectsthe progress of the game and eventually the play video itself viewed bythe audience, which provides an interactive, highly cohesive gameexperience.

(Variation)

In the embodiment described above, the intervention server intervenes inthe progress of a game in distribution of a live play video of the game.However, the intervention server may intervene not only in the progressbut also in the control of the mode of live distribution. For example,the intervention server may receive user input information from theaudience terminals, filter the user input information, and increase ordecrease the volume of the voice of the distributor or the area of apicture-in-picture (PinP) based on the filtered user input information.

The embodiment described above is a mere specific example for easierunderstanding of the concept of the present invention and is notintended to limit the scope of the invention. In the embodiment, variouselements may be added, omitted, or replaced without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

The various functional units described in the above embodiment may beimplemented by using a circuit. Each circuit may be a dedicated circuitfor implementing a specific function or may be a general-purpose circuitsuch as a processor.

At least part of the processing in the above-described embodiment mayalso be implemented using a general-purpose computer as a basichardware. Programs for implementing the above processing may be storedin a computer-readable recording medium and provided. The programs arestored in a recording medium as files in installable formats or files inexecutable formats. Examples of the recording medium include a magneticdisk, an optical disk (e.g., a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a DVD, etc.), amagneto-optical disk (e.g., an MO) and a semiconductor memory. Therecording medium may be of any type as long as it is capable of storingprograms and readable by a computer. Alternatively, programsimplementing the processing described above may be stored in a computer(or a server) connected to a network such as the Internet, anddownloaded to computers (i.e., clients) via the network.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An intervention server, comprising: one ormore processors; one or more memory devices configured to store anintervention program, when executed by the one or more processors,causes the one or more processors to perform: receiving first user inputinformation; filtering the first user input information; and generatingcontrol data that is configured to control progress based on the firstuser input information after filtering; and a communication deviceconfigured to: connect to a network; receive the first user inputinformation from a plurality of audience terminals playing a live videofrom a distributor terminal; and transmit the control data to thedistributor terminal via the network, wherein the intervention programfurther causes the one or more processors to perform generating thecontrol data by taking a majority vote while applying different weightson votes of the first user input information in accordance withattributes of audience members using the audience terminals thattransmitted the first user input information.
 2. The intervention serverof claim 1, wherein the communication device is further configured toreceive second user input information including a start trigger of anacceptable intervention period from the distributor terminal, andfurther configured to receive the first user input information duringthe acceptable intervention period responsive to the second user inputinformation.
 3. The intervention server of claim 1, wherein theintervention program further causes the one or more processors toperform: discarding a predetermined percentage of the received firstuser input information randomly.
 4. The intervention server of claim 1,wherein the intervention program causes the one or more processors toperform: discarding the first user input information that is receivedafter when a total amount of the received first user input informationreaches a predetermined limit.
 5. The intervention server of claim 1,wherein the intervention program causes the one or more processors toperform: drawing a portion of audience terminals among the audienceterminals; and filtering the first user input information based on aresult of the drawing.
 6. The intervention server of claim 1, whereinthe communication device is further configured to receive userauthentication data from the audience terminals via the network, andwherein the intervention program further causes the one or moreprocessors to perform: executing user authentication for the pluralityof audience terminals based on the user authentication data; andfiltering the received first user input information based on a result ofthe user authentication.
 7. The intervention server of claim 6, whereinthe intervention program further causes the one or more processors toperform: assigning weights on the first user input information based onthe result of user authentication.
 8. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium comprising an intervention program including instructions storedthereon, that when executed by one or more processors, causes the one ormore processors to perform: receiving first user input information froma plurality of audience terminals that is playing a live video from adistributor terminal; filtering the first user input information;generating control data that is configured to control progress based onthe first user input information after filtering; and causing acommunication device to transmit the control data to the distributorterminal, wherein the intervention program further causes the one ormore processors to perform generating the control data by taking amajority vote while applying different weights on votes of the firstuser input information in accordance with attributes of audience membersusing the audience terminals that transmitted the first user inputinformation.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8,wherein the intervention program further causes the one or moreprocessors to perform: discarding a predetermined percentage of thereceived first user input information randomly.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the intervention programfurther causes the one or more processors to perform: discarding thefirst user input information that is received after when a total amountof the received first user input information reaches a predeterminedlimit.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8,wherein the intervention program further causes the one or moreprocessors to perform: drawing a portion of audience terminals among theaudience terminals; and filtering the first user input information basedon a result of the drawing.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein the intervention program further causes theone or more processors to perform: executing user authentication for theplurality of audience terminals based on the user authentication datafrom the plurality of audience terminals; and filtering the receivedfirst user input information based on a result of the userauthenticating.
 13. A computer-implemented method for intervening adistributer terminal, the method comprising: receiving first user inputinformation from a plurality of audience terminals that is playing alive video from the distributor terminal; filtering the first user inputinformation; generating control data that is configured to controlprogress based on the first user input information after filtering; andcausing a communication device to transmit the control data to thedistributor terminal, wherein the method further comprises generatingthe control data by taking a majority vote while applying differentweights on votes of the first user input information in accordance withattributes of audience members using the audience terminals thattransmitted the first user input information.
 14. The method of claim13, further comprising: discarding a predetermined percentage of thereceived first user input information randomly.
 15. The method of claim13, further comprising: discarding the first user input information thatis received after when a total amount of the received first user inputinformation reaches a predetermined limit.
 16. The method of claim 13,further comprising: drawing a portion of audience terminals among theaudience terminals; and filtering the first user input information basedon a result of the drawing.
 17. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising: receiving user authentication data from the audienceterminals via the network; executing user authentication for theplurality of audience terminals based on the user authentication data;and filtering the received first user input information based on aresult of the user authentication.
 18. The intervention server of claim1, wherein the live video is a live video of a game executed by thedistributor terminal, and wherein the progress is progress of the game.19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein thelive video is a live video of a game executed by the distributorterminal, and wherein the progress is progress of the game.
 20. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the live video is a live video of a gameexecuted by the distributor terminal, and wherein the progress isprogress of the game.